Advice for merchants who want to expand globally – ETA Transact 2015

ETA Transact 2015 educational tracks highlighted a powerful message for merchants who want to expand globally; taking advantage of the benefits brought by technological advances and the cross-border ecommerce boom is easier said than done. Merchants expect more value than the ability to make payments, so they demand more customized solutions from their ISO/PSP partners. This leads to a transformation of the traditional acquiring business model, as merchants react to consumer demands for different kinds of payments, including mobile. Over the next couple of months, we will see merchants really taking a closer look at their existing providers and acquirers and make strategic business decisions, in order to grow their business globally.

Cross-border ecommerce and conquering new markets are two methods that merchants have at hand to increase their business volume. The advice we give to our merchants and partners is to engage with a processor who has a global presence, who knows the local laws and interchange fees, the pricing and the decisions that a merchant should make based on the regulation of that particular market. A first step forward would be to find partners or advisors or outsourced contractors who have the best overall view on ecommerce. This includes insight on how that market works, who are the right partners, what are the real opportunities, how people pay and other influencing factors on success and failure in that particular market.

If merchants try to accomplish a global sales strategy without a localized optimization strategy they will have inefficiencies in their systems and will likely pay higher costs. Whether it’s adopting local technology or an acquiring partner, you need support to build and implement a market-entry strategy.

As mentioned during ETA Transact 2015, cybercrime has become the most profitable criminal activity in the world. So merchants have to ensure they have an environment that will support EMV, encryption and tokenization when expanding their business into new markets. Becoming PCI compliant and maintaining this compliance as a permanent business-as-usual process is also mandatory. PCI is the baseline to stop data breaches and it is the responsibility of all parties involved – acquirer, issuer, and merchant.

To conclude, merchants who want to expand globally have to understand market disruptors; for this, most merchants should ask themselves how to become progressive and bring value to business through mobile. Partnering with global processors who have local knowledge and who understand the market ecommerce specifics will save them time and money. Then, there is also the EMV shift which is a harder process to follow, so merchants have to prepare and equip their companies. So, all in all, merchants should figure out the possible solutions to stay ahead of the crowd and prepare today for what nobody knows is coming tomorrow, within different markets across the globe.

About Us

Cross-border eCommerce Community is a non-profit association which offers acquiring banks, payment service providers and their merchants’ tremendous opportunities to expand their global footprint and benefit from emerging markets, once these stakeholders understand how to make cross-border ecommerce truly profitable.

Contact

If you have any further questions, please contact: contact{at}crossborder-ecommerce.com